Government demands IVF “lottery” ends in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

The Department of Health and Social Care has demanded all NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) provide free IVF treatments.

Free fertility treatment for Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and parts of Essex were previously scrapped in order to save the NHS money.

On behalf of the government, MP Jackie Doyle described the situation as a “lottery of fertility treatment”. She added that it’s “been allowed to grow – to blight the lives of patients and to damage the reputation of the NHS”.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area became the third place in the UK to withdraw free IVF treatment through the NHS, despite Government guidelines recommending that women under 40-years-old should be offered a minimum of three free cycles if they have been trying to conceive for three years or more.

I cannot emphasise enough that it is not acceptable for CCGs to offer no routine access to fertility services. All CCGs should move towards full implementation of the NICE Fertility Guidelines recommendations.